Real Christianity

From The Christian Reader:

Real Christianity


by Eric Rauch



Although the 2006 film, Amazing Grace, has made his name a bit less foreign, most Christians still have no idea who William Wilberforce was. Some may have an inkling that he was involved in politics and did something about the slave trade in England, but this is usually where the knowledge ends. This historic ignorance of such a dynamic personality is a shame, because William Wilberforce was one of those rare individuals who understood that his own Christianity should make some sort of difference to the world around him. He knew that God had given him a sphere of influence and he further knew that not using that influence was just as sinful as using it for personal gain. Wilberforce understood worldviews and their consequences.





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In 1787, Wilberforce wrote this in his journal: “God Almighty has placed before me two great objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.” He believed that his conversion to Christianity in 1785 came with certain responsibilities. Unlike the emotional conversions that proliferate in our modern Christianity, the conversion of William Wilberforce produced powerful results and corollaries. In 1797, Wilberforce’s sharp-penned polemic against the current trends (what he called “manners”) within the Christianity of his own day was released to the public. Entitled A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity, Wilberforce pulled no punches and spared no one. As the title indicates, Wilberforce was shocked at the blatant disregard for Scripture within the churches and the hypocrisy that only served to weaken the world-transforming power of the Gospel. He wrote:



When religion is handed down among us by hereditary succession, it is not surprising to find youth of sense and spirit beginning to question the truth of the system in which they were brought up. And it is not surprising to see them abandon a position that they are unable to defend. Knowing Christianity chiefly by its difficulties and the impossibilities falsely imputed to it, they fall perhaps into the company of unbelievers…



Their standard of right and wrong is not the standard of the Gospel. They approve and condemn by a different rule. They advance principles and maintain opinions altogether opposite to the genius and character of Christianity. If we would know the truth, their opinions on the subject of religion are not formed from the perusal of the Word of God. The Bible lies on a shelf unopened. And they would be wholly ignorant of its contents, except for what they hear occasionally in church. Or perhaps they retain vague traces in their memories from the lessons of childhood.



How different, then, and indeed how contradictory are these two systems. One forms itself out of the commonly received maxims of Christendom, and the other forms itself from the study of the Holy Scriptures! It would be curious to observe (in anyone who had hitherto satisfied himself with the first system) the astonishment a person would show on his first introduction to the system based on Scripture!



How criminal, then, must this voluntary ignorance of Christianity and the Word of God appear in the sight of God. When God of His goodness has granted us such abundant means of instruction, how great must be the guilt, and how awful must be the punishment, of voluntary ignorance! (pp. 38-40)





Wilberforce understood that conversion to the religion of Christ included conversion of the whole person. His actions, words, and thoughts were to become obedient to the Word of God; anything less would be seditious. Ten years after the publication of his book, Parliament finally sided with him and voted to abolish the slave trade. The two objects that God Almighty had placed before him were accomplished. But he didn’t stop there. He continued fighting until his death in 1833, when the practice of slavery itself was abolished.



This edited and updated version of Wilberforce’s courageous book is simply called Real Christianity: Discerning True Faith from False Beliefs. Although the title loses some of its original punch, the material inside is no less forceful. In the chapter entitled “Inadequate Conceptions of God and of Christian Behavior,” Wilberforce writes this: “Therefore let the most superficial observer compare the sentiments and views of the bulk of the Christian world with the articles of faith that still appear in their creed. An amazing discrepancy must strike him! Thus, in the minds of the crowd, religion appears to be wholly excluded from the business world and the vanities of life” (p. 61). This quotation illustrates one of the key reasons why Wilberforce was able to offer such stinging criticism of the church in his day: He took the time to look at the church as an outsider. Rather than accepting the rituals and traditions of the religious system as givens, he compared what he saw and experienced in the church to the authoritative words of Holy Scripture. People were free to disagree with him, but they had better have a Bible in their hand when doing so.



Real Christianity reads like an indictment of our own modern version of “churchianity.” If this book does nothing else, it proves the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10: “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, ‘See this, it is new’? Already it has existed for ages which were before us.” The tendency of the church to see itself as a sanctuary rather than a bootcamp is nothing new. Getting involved in the affairs of a sinful world is both dangerous and tiring, but God calls us to it nevertheless. He commands us to take dominion and make disciples, teaching His truth to all nations, tribes, and tongues.



Are we willing to follow the lead of William Wilberforce and charge headlong into battle, even to the floor of Parliament (or Congress)? Or, even more to the point, are we willing to take the gospel to our neighbors, friends, and family members? Not every role in the Kingdom is high-profile, most are lowly and don’t earn a mention in the newspapers, but Jesus assures us that the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). William Wilberforce lived this principle out for all to see, and we should do no less. Real Christianity is both a reminder and a battle plan for the endurance and victory of the gospel, both in his day and ours.